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Steam Steering Mechanism.

No. 231,626. Patented Aug. 24,1880.-

'WI'IjNESSES: gYENTOR:

: ATTORNEYS.

NJETERS, PHOTO-UTHQGRAPN ER, WASHINGTON, n C

, 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. R. SIMEY.

Steam Steering Mechanism,

No. 231,626. Patented Aug. 24,1880.

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WITNESSES: INVBNTOR:

ATTORNEYS.

v MPETERS, PMO'TO-LITHOGRAF HER, WASHI TON, D, C,

U ITED STATES PATENT -@FFIE.

CHARLES R. SIMEY, OF SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND.

STEAM STEERING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N0. 231,626, dated August24, 1880. Application filed March 6, 1880. (ModeL) Patented in EnglandApril 22, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Ross SIMEY, of Sunderland, in the county ofDurham, England, have invented a new and Improved Steam SteeringMechanism, upon which I have obtained Letters Patent in the Kingdom ofGreat Britain hearing date the 22d day' of April, A. D. 1879, andnumbered 1,586; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and inwhich Figure 1 is a rear elevation. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3is a plan view, showing the steam steering-gear and my improvements inconnection with the reversing-gear. Fig.

4 is a longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of a cylinder withpiston-valve. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a reversing-valve.Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the movement of the lever cross-head K. Fig.7 is a detailed sectional view through the lever cross-head K at itspoint of connection with the end of lever m,- and Fig. 8, a plan view,in detail, of the gearing for connecting the chain-wheel shaft andindex-rod.

My invention relates to the steering-gear; and it consists of improvedself-acting apparatus constructed and arranged to shut oft the steamwhen, or just before, the helm attains the desired position. Theposition to be given to the helm is indicated by a pointer moved by thesteersman, the actual movement of the helm being indicated by anotherpointer moved in turn by the machine itself, and the steam beingautomatically shut off when these two pointers coincide, as hereinafterfully set forth.

A A denote horizontal steam-cylinders; a, their piston-rods, and aconnecting-rods to cranks b on a shaft, B.

c is a worm keyed on shaft B and gearing with a worm-Wheel, O, on theshaft d, on which is keyed the chain wheel or barrel D.

The wheel 0 is coupled with shaft cl by a clutch, to enable it to bedisconnected when the steam-power is not used and the vessel is steeredby hand, in which case a sliding pinion, 0, keyed on the handsteering-wheel shaft F, is thrown into gear with a spur-Wheel, E, faston the chain-wheel shaft d, the same lever G serving to operate both theclutch O and the pinion e.

and pointers G and at its lower end is fixed a let er arm, g.

H is a short tubular spindle, through which the shaft G passes, both Gand H passing through and being supported by hollow post I or bracket-s,as desired, supporting a dial, 71, over which the pointers move.

H is a segment of a beveled toothed wheel fixed on spindle H, andpassing, in case of a post being used, through an opening in the post. 1d is a bevetpinion that gears \vith segment H, the pinion 61 being partof and constructed with the wheel d mounted on a stud, d fixed at oneside of the chain-wheel shaft d, the wheel (1 gearing with a wheel, at,on said shaft 01. The proportions of the wheels and pinions are suchthat the segment H is made to travel through a quarter of a circle bythe rotation of the chain-wheel in moving the rudder fromhard-a-starboard to hard-a-port, and vice versa.

H is apointer fixed on the upper end ofspindle H, and h is a lever-arm,equal in radius to g, fixed on its lower end,

K is a lever cross-head, equal in length to h and g together, andconnected at its opposite ends It, by links L L, with the arms h g,respectively. This cross-head is pivoted by a ball-antl socket joint, m,at the middle of its length to the end of the valve-rod it areversingvalve is used, or, as in the example illustrated in the figuresnow described, to the end of a lever, m, fixed on a weigh-shaft, M,mounted in suitable bearings, m 122 being two leverarms fixed on thesame weigh-shaftM, and connected by draw-rods a a with the links N, ofthe ordinary reversing-gear.

In case of a reversing-valve the cross-head is pivoted directly to therod 9 of said reversin g-valve P, which it controls in the same way thatit controlled the link motion in the former arrangement. This valve P,which may be an ordinary D-slide, is contained in a separate chest, 0,and works over ports t t, connected by pipes with passages F F,respectively, in

the piston-valve chest. (Shown in Fi 4.) When two cylinders are employedthe pipes connecting ports t t and passages T T are made to connect bothof the corresponding ports and passages, so that a single throttle valveand its actuating mechanism will be required for both engines.

S is the steam-pipe, and R the exhaust.

It will be readily seen that when port t is uncovered steam entersthrough T and pistonvalve V to either end of the cylinder A and exhaustround the piston-valve and through F t, and that when port t isuncovered by valve P the direction of the steam is reversed, thusreversing the engine.

It will be readily understood that the valve V may be operated by aneccentric upon the driving-shaft of the engine in a well-known manner,and the valve P is operated by the gearing and hand-levers of themachine.

The operation is as follows: When the handles G and pointer G are movedby the steersman one way or the other over the dial t the lever g ismoved to a corresponding angle or extent, and the beam K is oscillatedon It as a center and caused to describe an are, as shown approximatelyin the diagram, Fig. 6, thereby moving the center m and consequentlyraising or lowering the link N to start and run the engine in therequired direction. The shaft 01, driven by the engine, being geared bypinion d, shaft d wheels (1 61 and segmentH with spindle H, rotates thelatterin the same direction as that in which the spindle G is moved,thereby moving arm it until it comes diametrically opposite to arm g,and moving the end 7c of the beam K on as a center, causing it todescribe such an are, as shown in Fig. 6, as will bring the center mback to the position it formerly occupied, shut oif the steam at theproper moment, and return the link motion to its mid-gear position forrunning the engine one way or the other.

Though I prefer to use valve-gear of the piston class actuated by asingle eccentric and valves without lap or lead, still I do not limitmyself to the arrangement described, as the same result is attained whenthe lever crosshead is pivoted to the rod connected to the lever-arm onthe weigh-shaft ha\ 'ing other lever-arms, each connected to theslot-link of the ordinary reversi ng-gear, hereinbefore setforth. Theinner spindle, G, can be worked from the upper deck by a forked rod orby means of idle-wheels so arranged as to span. over or pass up at oneside of the hand steering-wheel shaft. 7

The hollow spindle H can be carried up in a similar manner to show theposition of the helm on the upper bridge, if desired.

The rudder is worked by the gear until it reaches the same angle withthe center line of the ship as the tiller stands. The machine thenstops. The steersman can consequently put the tiller to the angle hewishes the rudder to occupy, and he can then leave it to work hisengine-room telegraph if necessary.

The advantage of operating the rudderchains from the driving-shaft of anengine, instead of connecting them directly to the cylinder piston-rod,will be readily seen when employed in connection with the mechanism forautomatically shutting oft the steam to place and hold the rudder in anydesired position, as a single stroke of the piston will move the rudderbut a short distance, while in the other case a single stroke of thecylinder only is required to move the rudder over its entire course, andthe rudder will not stand without brake being applied when it is put tostarboard or port, as one end of the cylinder is then full of steam andthe other is empty. For the same reason, when the rudder-chains areattached directly to the cylinder piston-rod the consumption of steamwill be excessive, as one end of the cylinder must be emptied in orderto move the rudder the smallest possible distance.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a steamsteering apparatus, the combi-v nation of the spindles G H, ha nd-leverG, pointers G G, arms 1 it, links L, lever cross-head K, connected withthe main valve of the engine by mechanism substantially as described.segment H, and intermediate gear-wheelsfor connectingthe driving-shaftof the engine with the hollow spindle H, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

2. In a steam steering apparatus, the combination of a steam-engine andits connections with a worm-shaft, a worm wheel, sliding clutch,spur-wheel, and chain-wheel connected to a horizontal shaft, atiller-wheel shaft arranged parallel with and above the chain-wheelshaft, provided with a sliding pinion, and a lever pivoted to the frameof the machine and connected to the clutch and pinion, these parts beingcombined and arranged to operate the chain-wheel and rudder either byhand or by steam, substantially as described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 21st day ofJanuary, 1880.

CHARLES ROSS SIMEY.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. F. SIMEY, OoLLnN SMART.

